VANCOUVER - After costing his team two points over the weekend, Camilo was determined to made amends.

The Brazilian forward scored and had a hand in three other Vancouver goals Wednesday as the Whitecaps hammered Chivas USA 4-0 in Major League Soccer.

Camilo failed to score on a late, in-close chance Saturday in a 0-0 tie with Seattle as Vancouver dropped crucial points in the standings as the Whitecaps push for a playoff spot.

"Last week against Seattle I missed that one (scoring) chance but this week I trained very hard," Camilo said. "I am very happy with this (result)."

Camilo made the initial pass on the game's opening goal, scored in the second half and earned assists on two others.

"That's strength of character," Vancouver midfielder Barry Robson said. "He had a good game (Saturday) but he missed a chance. We've all missed chances. In my career I've missed loads of chances, so I know how it is.

"That's football for you. He goes out tonight, makes a few goals, and everything is fine for him again."

The Whitecaps snapped a seven-game winless streak to stretch their lead over FC Dallas for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference to five points, although Dallas has a game in hand.

Camilo had not scored in seven games, but with fellow striker Darren Mattocks out with an injury, he was sure to get another chance and he made the most of it.

"For him, for strikers, I think it's about confidence and he's not scored in a little while," Vancouver head coach Martin Rennie said. "Tonight will be great for his confidence. We all know he's a good finisher and he's a guy that can set goals up so that's encouraging that we have another player, coming into the final part of the season, who is playing towards his best."

Substitute Dane Richards added a goal and an assist after Gershon Koffie had already opened the scoring for the hosts.

Robson capped the scoring as Vancouver put up four goals for the first time this season in front of a crowd of 17,777 fans at B.C. Place Stadium. The 4-0 scoreline was also the largest margin of victory in the team's two-year MLS history.

"I've been telling you guys for weeks that we're clicking at the right moment," Vancouver goalkeeper Brad Knighton said. "We finally got an outburst like that at home in front of our fans."

Chivas, which has been outscored 18-1 in its past seven games, gave Vancouver some opportunities to score despite have 67.7 per cent of the possession.

"We've been working on the midfielders breaking into the box more," Robson said. "You saw that tonight, we were flooding the box with players."

Rennie said hosting a team struggling in the standings is not always a good thing.

"Sometimes that can be a hard team to play against because people expect you to go out and do what we did and that's actually quite hard to do," he said.

However when all was said and done, Chivas USA failed to even record a shot on target, making it a quiet night for Knighton to record his second shutout in as many games.

"They possessed the ball very well ... and there were a couple crosses I had to come out for but I was really tested that often," said Knighton, who has now started five straight in place of out-of-favour Joe Cannon.

Chivas, meanwhile, has not scored in 532 minutes, the longest offensive drought in MLS this season.

"Obviously we weren't effective enough in front of either goal," Chivas head coach Robin Fraser said. "We started off pretty well, controlling most of the game, but in the end it doesn't mean anything if you make critical mistakes in front of your goal and you don't finish plays in front of their goal."

The Whitecaps opened the scoring in the 11th minute. Camilo began the play by taking a throw in before feeding the ball up to Kenny Miller. Miller passed to Koffie at the top of the box and he powered a left-footed blast by Dallas goalkeeper Dan Kennedy, who would finish the night with two saves.

"Kenny set it up really well and Koffie finished it off excellently," Rennie said. "We knew that they would be open when they had the ball, and it would give us a chance to catch them on the break."

It was Koffie's third goal of the year and his first in 11 games dating back to July 18 versus the Los Angeles Galaxy.

"Credit to them, I thought we started the game pretty bright, we were on top of the ball, we always emphasize trying to be the ones pushing the game and I thought we did that, then Gershon scores a fantastic goal and it's difficult," Chivas midfielder Peter Vagensas said. "Obviously things haven't been going well for us and when things starts to slide the other way it’s difficult."

After recording his first assist since joining the club, Miller was forced to leave the game in the 18th minute with what seemed to be a hamstring injury.

"It's disappointing, the last couple games we've had to make changes in the first half," said Rennie. "But the player coming on, Dane Richards, had a significant impact on the game. He was probably the last player that they would have wanted to see."

Richards made it 2-0 in the 35th minute, scoring with a right-footed shot for his fourth of goal of the season after taking a feed from Camilo.

"Dane is a very fast guy and I know when I get the ball, just play it behind for him," Camilo said.

The best Chivas opportunity came in first-half injury time when Juan Agudelo headed a cross just wide of the post.

Camilo scored his fifth of the season in the 62nd minute, converting a centring attempt from Richards in close as he fell to the turf.

"We were just trying to push the game, push the tempo and try to find a way to get our first one and then we left ourselves a little bit exposed and they found a way to get a third one and after that you could say the game was over," Chivas defender Shalrie Joseph said.

Robson capped the scoring with a left-footed volley in the 73rd, his third of the season, after taking a cross from Camilo.

Notes: Richards is set to join Burnley of England's Championship League following the MLS season. ... Vancouver was without the services of striker Darren Mattocks and midfielder John Thorrington, who were both nursing hamstring strains. ... Vancouver has just two games remaining, at home versus Portland on Oct. 20 before visiting Real Salt Lake on Oct. 27. ... Chivas USA hosts FC Dallas on Oct. 7 and Colorado on Oct. 20 before heading to Dallas for their regular season finale Oct. 28. ... Vancouver captain Jay DeMerit played his 50th career game for the Whitecaps. He scored his only career MLS goal against Chivas back on March 17.